Owls Right Ship Against Anchorwomen

WESTFIELD, Mass. — Hanna Nihill had 13 kills for Westfield State Owls volleyball as they righted the ship against Rhode Island College in a 3-1 statement win.

The Owls (0-4) came into Saturday winless after tough competition at Springfield College's season opening tournament and regular season matchup versus Coast Guard. The Owls had only won one set so far this season and needed to make a statement against the undefeated Anchorwomen of Rhode Island College(2-0).

The first set opened up with the Owls serving and a kill from Rhode Island's Rhiannon Hodovanec(Feeding Hills, Mass.). Westfield caught a break from a mishit of the Anchorwomen and started their scoring for the day. The first set was competitive down the stretch until the Owls found a way to break it open. Westfield scored 10 in a 15 point stretch from crucial kills from Emma Nihill(Chandler, Ariz.) and Hanna Nihill(Chandler, Ariz.).

The Owls senior Sarah Bingham(Reno, Nev.) had a big kill to extend to their largest lead of the first set of four to make it 21-17 and force a Rhode Island timeout. It was too late for the Anchorwomen as a kill from Emma Nihill clinched the first set for Westfield 25-21 and went up 1-0 in sets.

The beginning of the second set was kind to Rhode Island as they got out to a strong 9-3 lead but was quickly cut down to just one as the Owls were forcing Anchorwomen errors. 

Rhode Island quickly figured it out as they scored seven straight including three kills from Olivia Rollinson(Coventry, R.I.). 

The Owls digging deep, paired with a critical timeout, found a way out of this hole and scored 15 out of 19 points thanks to kills from Emma Nihill, Hanna Nihill, Julia Bartiet(Cheshire, Conn.), and Sydney Cummins(Nicholasville, Ky.). This put the Owls up 23-19 and after a four point scare from Rhode Island to tie it up at 23 a piece, but Westfield closed it out on two straight points including a kill from Bingham. 

With a commanding 2-0 lead, the Owls opened up the first serve of the third set with a point. The lead became short lived in the third set as Westfield's largest lead was one point. The Anchorwomen had an answer for the Owls as they scored seven of the final ten points to close out the set 25-21 and push it to a fourth set.

Westfield took that third set loss personally and never lost the lead once in the fourth set. The Nihill twins had five of their 20 combined kills in the fourth set including one from Emma to end the match.

Westfield State(1-4) puts a big one in the win column as they look towards a home match on Wednesday, September 11 against the University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) at 7 P.M.

Rhode Island College (2-1) looks forward to a home match on Tuesday, September 10 versus Bridgewater State at 6 P.M.

Published by: Hunter Briggs, Graduate Assistant